Samurai Jack
Samurai Jack (real name unknown) is the titular main protagonist from the Cartoon Network TV show of the same name. He is the son of a Japanese Emperor who once defeated the evil wizard wizard, Aku by wielding a magical Katana infused with the power of the gods, making it the only weapon capable of harming the demon. When Aku escaped from its prison after its initial defeat, the Emperor's son was rescued by his mother and trained for years to become a powerful Samurai warrior strong enough to wield the magical Katana and face Aku. Right before the Samurai was about to kill Aku, the evil wizard sent him to the future where Aku reigns supreme. The samurai, now trapped in a dystopian future, adopted the name "Jack" and made it his goal to return to the past and undo the horrible future Aku created. Time traveling caused Jack to stop aging, after 50 years of fighting Aku in vain Jack lost all hope and the magical Katana, becoming a merciless killer. Jack faced and killed a group of assassins known as "The Daughters of Aku" but spared the only survivor among them, a girl named Ashi. In return, Ashi helped Jack recover his honor as a Samurai and regain the Katana, in the process the two became lovers. Ashi eventually discovered she has the same powes as Aku and opened a time portal for her and Jack to return to the past at the exact moment when Jack had initially been sent to the future, allowing him to finish that inital battle and kill Aku once and for all. With Aku dead the tragic future was adverted, saving trillions of lives across many generations and preventing centuries of suffering, but that came at the cost of Ashi being erased from existence since she was part of that future. He was voiced by Phil LaMarr during the series, who also voiced Static in Static Shock. Appearance Early in the series, Jack's face was depicted as long and rectangular; however, later in the show it became more like a square with a distinct eastern look. As an adult, he is fairly tall and lean but fit in built, and has long jet black hair that he keeps tied in a Japanese chonmage topknot. Jack's clothing consists of a simple white kimono robe (sometimes referred to as a gi) with gray trim on the sleeves and edges, a white obi sash around his waist, and a pair of wooden geta sandals. His geta were once destroyed in Episode XXVI by a group of bikers, then later replaced by a jet repairman called Tengu who crafted the very same geta sandals for himself and his family. Throughout the show, whenever Jack's kimono is severely damaged in battle, he simply tears off the top half to continue fighting unhindered. Because he starts each new episode with his kimono fully intact, it can be assumed that Jack repairs his clothing in-between episodes. In the image shown by the time portal guarded by The Guardian depicting an older version of himself, Jack is shown to have waist-long beard and hair. He is also shown to be wearing a golden crown and a red cape with scars all over his body. As of Season 5, Jack has grown a large beard and wears full samurai armor with a mask resembling a Japanese oni demon and a gun holster across his torso. In Episode XCII his mask was destroyed by a horde of Beetle Drones, and he discarded his helmet and shoulder pads while fighting Scaramouch. He appeared with his full armor again in Episode XCIII only for it to be completely destroyed by the Daughters of Aku, shortening his beard and leaving him wearing only tattered rags. He later regain his original look in Episode XCVIII. Personality Jack strongly exhibits the characteristics of a stoic hero. He is unfailingly kind and generous, and will always attempt to help those in need, as well as dispatching sage like wisdom to those he believes are in need of guidance. He often ends up sacrificing a chance to return to his own time in order to help someone else. He has had considerable development during his time in the future. Initially, though polite and refined, he was very quick to anger and even more quick to being frustrated or irritated. His quest to return to his own time, having been thwarted again and again, even convinced him for a short time that returning to the past was impossible. However, over time, he has become much more patient and calm. He is also clever and rational, able to pose a plan or a strategy necessary to defeat the enemy, and also knowing his limits (such as when he is surrounded by too many enemies to defeat them by pure force). He is also extremely good at thinking on his feet, often improvising his way out of lethal, or impossibly bizarre, situations. He is also a very solitary man, tending not to socialize due to his focus on his quest. In Season 5, his lack of social skills is highlighted in his interactions with Ashi, first when he tries to convince her of Aku's evil and later when he tries to bond with her. He once jokes in XCV about the raining needles stuck in their bodies, claiming people pay for it and that it is called acupuncture, then later shyly compliments her new dress and hair in XCVII. Though not expanded upon, his lack of socializing makes him more shy and awkward around women, exemplified through his interactions with Ikra, Josephine, and in particular Ashi, whom he becomes infatuated with. While he is fine working with and befriending several people (regardless of gender) throughout his journey both during his training in the past and current quest in the future, he becomes shy during more intimate moments. However a running gag in the show (During Seasons 1-4) is his inability or reluctance to understand the technology of the future, such as in one episode where Jack had attempted to escape Aku's fortress after rescuing two fairy like creatures by driving a hovercar, but he fails to operate it competently, claiming he prefers to walk. He is also quite good at keeping his wits about him when confronted with the outlandishly strange circumstances that he often finds himself in, simply rolling with the proverbial punches rather than becoming upset or baffled. After 50 years in the future, between losing his father's sword (the only means of killing Aku) and all known means of return to the past being destroyed, Jack has become disillusioned with the idea of ever completing his quest. He is emotionally vulnerable, showing signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as he is often haunted by hallucinations of his family and the people of the past, constantly asking him why he didn't return to save them. Also, in Episode XCIII, his mind manifests a hallucination of Mad Jack, demanding that Jack give up and end his constant suffering, means that Jack is contemplating seppuku (traditional Japanese suicide) in this episode. Despite his weariness and seeming lack of hope, Jack refuses to surrender, continuing his quest to save people from Aku's tyranny wherever possible. At the same time, he also becomes open-minded with technology in which he begins to utilize high-tech weaponry, explosive, and riding a motorbike. Despite his decades of training and fighting as the ultimate warrior, and his seemingly endless journey hardening his overall outlook, Jack's general nature is still rather inexperienced, having never directly taken the life of a human-being or sentient alien. He is able to distance himself from the knowledge of all the robots and androids he has destroyed by noting that they are just "nuts and bolts". However, upon actually killing such a being, one Daughter of Aku, he was left horrified at the sight. However he later comes to term with his first kill after a memory of remembering his father's word of wisdom and is able to handle killing the remaining Daughters of Aku. Despite this, he still dislikes the notion of having to kill unless absolutely necessary, and will never harm an innocent. Jack at the same time has become more the easily angered due to Mad Jack's influence after Aku destroyed the last time portal. This cause him to become easily more annoyed, aggressive and angered. He eventually let go of his anger in order to be worthy of using his sword again. Powers and Abilities *'Immortality:' Due to the side-effects of Aku's time teleportation, time has lost its effects on his body, making him ageless. He has been in the future for over 70 years and is still in his prime. *'Master Combatant:' Jack has shown impressive mastery in many styles of martial arts some of which include the Shaolin Praying Mantis, Tiger, and Eagle styles, Ninjutsu techniques, Greek wrestling and African stick fighting. He is well versed in a number of weapons that range from spears and staffs to nunchukus and shurikens, as shown in his fights at the Dome of Doom. In his youth, Jack also learned how to use unfamiliar weapons by observing others, and adapting their style into his own skills to use them more effectively as necessary. *'Master Archer:' Jack has shown to have excellent skills in archery since he was trained by Robin Hood. His marksmanship skill was put to the test in Episode 3 when Jack used his archery skills to set off traps against the beetle drones and later used his last arrows on the beetle drones which they hit dead on. *'Master Swordsman:' Aside from Jack's ability to proficiently wield a vast number of weaponry, he showed the greatest amount of skill with his sword. This was most likely due to the fact that the only weapon capable of destroying Aku was Jack's blade, allowing him to defeat a large number of enemies easily as shown in his battles with the beetle drones as well as the countless bounty hunters that Aku sends to capture Jack. Jack is shown to rely primarily on swiftness and precision in his strikes in a balanced blend of attack and defense, able to land dozens of blows in seconds, as well as being able to parry machine gun fire from multiple directions. Coupled with the sword's extreme cutting power, Jack can also slice through structures, enemies, and machines much larger than he is while also able to parry most strikes with ease. He is shown to be an equal match to the Scotsman's brute strength. *'Superhuman Strength:' Jack is shown to have immense physical strength despite his lean frame, able to cleanly cut through most machines with no effort and can easily throw opponents much larger than himself (although this may be due to skill more so than raw strength). *'Superhuman Speed:' Jack is shown to be extremely swift on his feet and has performed incredible feats of speed and agility, able to avoid gunfire, carve through entire armies within seconds and in one instance, defeat a team composed entirely of highly infamous and skilled bounty hunters from all directions in the time it takes for a drop of water to hit the ground. *'Incredible Jumping Capability:' Since coming to the future, Jack has learned the ability to leap many times his own height to the point of looking as if he could fly while also being able to fall from great distances with no injury from a jungle man and his adopted tribe of white-furred gorilla's. This is due to the training method of having incredibly heavy boulders tied to his arms, legs and back and being forced to perform strenuous activities such as climbing up a tree via a vine, tight-rope running across a clearing until his body has adjusted to the weight. This has vastly increased his strength granting him new levels of speed and agility. *'High Durability:' Jack has shown many times throughout the series that he has a very high durability and has survived blows from powerful opponents and still been able to stand and fight, he also has a very high tolerance for great physical pain. *'Survival Skills:' Living among Aku's Orwellian regime greatly limits the places Jack can visit for a meal even when he has money; thus he frequents living in the wild and foraging and hunting his own food. As such he trained long ago the means to secure his own food in the wild, capable of setting traps or outright killing the animal himself. Thus he has a subset of skills such as Stalking and Concealment to aid in his obtaining food. He also knows how to cook. He is aware of basic medicine. *'Willpower:' Jack seems to possess an indomitable force of will. He climbed one of the highest mountains in the world without the aid of provisions or cold weather clothing. Fight against countless drones despite pain. His ambition to defeat Aku remains above all despite his near hopeless situation. *'Heightened Senses': Jack's senses are higher than an average human, as he can hear someone take a breath and a drop of sweat falling onto a leaf. *'Indomitable Will': Jack has strong determination in himself to keep going. He always willing to help those in need and willingly to go off into finding his way back to his time while tolerating the events he encounters on his adventure. *'Apathy': Through intense training, Jack suppresses his emotions to avoid emotional distraction and think properly. Despite this, he sometimes tends to lose his anger and express some emotion when dealing with certain events. *'Pure Heart': Despite his apathetic attitude, Jack has a pure heart and he's the only one who can use his sword. Because the sword was forged to be used for good, but in the hands of evil, it can never harm an innocent. Trivia *Jack's real name has not been revealed. However, given his background and origin, it is likely that the real name is Japanese. *He fought against Afro Samurai in Death Battle and won. 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